Psalm 18

I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer,
my God, my rock in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

David the king - and psalmist - is a collection of contradictions, like most of us.

He is self-deluding and self-critiquing, like most of us.

In this psalm David gives thanks for God's help:

"He brought me out into a broad place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me."

Pure grace, pure pleasure, pure love was God's motivation.

But in the very next verse, David claims:

"The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he recompensed me."

Intellectually, I know my faults and failures. But emotionally I stubbornly insist on what I am due.

Thank God I am not given what I am due.

Psalm 18